I'll have to admit that after watching Michael Moore's 2nd "documentary" (quotes purposely used), I figured that it would be a while before I picked up my copy of "bowling for colombine" or watched another movie of his again.
While I understand that Bush - and you all know who I am talking about - is an ASS, I felt that Michael Moore overestimated the power of a movie and was trying to use his unique position as a good movie maker to make a political statement. I go to the movies to willfully suspend disbelief... not to get depressed about the world situation. More to it, I am not able to do anything about the state of affairs in the US because I am proudly Ugandan, proudly Canadian and have no intention of adding "US citizen" to my long list of life achievements.
Like I said, I decided that it would be a while till I saw another michael moore movie... until I was standing at the video rental store earlier today and realized that the only recent release left for me to watch was his most recent movie - sicko.
OK
So after 1 hour 58 minutes of horror at the US medical situation juxtaposed with smugness about the fact that my exorbitantly high tax pays for my semi-cushy medicare, I started to think about 2 things:
1. A British man with an accent and demeanor that made you respect him and take everything he said as the "gospel truth" said this (I'm paraphrasing here): Democracy is the most radical idea in history because it takes the power from the rich and places it in the hands of the poor. Whoa! Think of Uganda - a country that is officially on the list of the world's 25 least developed countries... imagine what kind of change the poor and so-called ignorant people could effect if they took democracy seriously. While I think Uganda's political situation and presidential aspirants offer a little less than smoke, dust and ashes in return for the vote of the people, theoretically if there was a person that truly cared for the country... cared that it succeeds in development... theoretically, couldnt such a person rally the poor and oppressed of such a country and make then an unstoppable force of change?
2. I realized that even though the development situation in Uganda is NIL except for the patches that they are putting on the capital city and international airport in preparation for CHOGM (non-ugandans will not understand this), WE HAD CHEAP MEDICATION! From now on, I am buying ALL prescribed medicine from third world countries - preferably those with access to Indian pharmaceutical companies. Heh!
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2 comments:
I haven't watched sicko coz Michael Moore makes me sicko
The fact that the medical system in the US sucks shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
But that democracy has anything to do with changing things is a lie. Poor people have no power! They're too busy worrying about the basic stuff. And the owners of the companies that keep these poor people worried about stuff pay lobbyists in DC to make sure they're interests are protected.
Democracy works for the rich. The poor people just need to drop they're drawers and bend over!
I disagree with you... actually...
The fact that democracy does not work has nothing to do with the truth that it in fact could be an agent for good... or change.
I think that the way western society is setup right now is to discourage the poor and oppressed and make them cynical about the power they could have if they banded together (the companies, the lobbyists, many of the current politicians, etc...). The truth of the matter is that hypothetically if they set aside cynicism and apathy for a moment and DID vote BECAUSE they worried about the basic stuff then something would be done about it... thats the point of democracy and the reason for which it was invented... the same reason why the poor and oppressed rose up and said "Enough with monarchies!!!" and cut off their heads. We must not lose the belief that we can do the same thing if we wanted to simply because WE ARE MORE THAN THEY ARE!
It has happened in the past and it can happen again.
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